EDUCATION
Katanga alumni unhappy with unresolved hall conversion brouhaha
Some male students of the University Hall popularly known as Katanga at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology (KNUST) have raised concerns over the admission of female students into the hall.
The University started admitting female students into two male halls, namely University Hall (Katanga) and Unity Hall (Conti) after the dismissal of an injunction application seeking to prevent the conversion.
But speaking to Citi News, a member of the Katanga old boys, Nana Agyei Kyerema, said students are not happy with the decision.
“Students are not happy because we thought all these processes have been followed until the university disregarded everything and started admitting the females. Our leadership is in a very difficult situation now because while we assured students to keep calm and await the processes being followed, the university just goes ahead to admit females. This has made it difficult to calm students down.”
A statement issued by the group on Friday indicated that it will not rest on its oars to ensure that their concerns are addressed.
It, therefore, asked its members not to engage in acts that are likely to have a toll on their discussions being held with the appropriate authorities.
“We are, however, pursuing extensive discussions with the appropriate authorities of the hall and the University to arrive at amicable solutions in tandem with the protocols being laid down by the Chancellor. Thus we urge all fellows and sympathizers of the University Hall to remain calm, as our actions and inactions may implicitly or explicitly affect all efforts geared at finding an appropriate long-lasting solution to the matter at hand. The Executive Council is always poised and will rest not in fulfilling its mandate as the mouthpiece of residents and all affiliates of the hall.”
In a separate release issued earlier, the alumni questioned why the university administration did not pay heed to the chancellor and thus went ahead to take in females into the hall without the report and resolution being made to the general public yet.
They also asked that, with all the trust in the countenance and fair leadership of His Royal Majesty, are they being taken for granted because they have chosen to pay heed to His Majesty the Chancellor of the University.
“We would like to draw the attention of all well-meaning Ghanaians to the fact that KNUST is sitting on a time bomb that can explode anytime as a result of the unwarranted actions of a mischievous few in the school who just want to portray the University Hall as evil”, the statement added.
“We would like to state it clearly without any stain of doubt that, we will not rest until the University Hall is reversed back to its original status.”
Aggrieved students and alumni had described the school management’s decision to convert the all-male halls into unisex ones as an attempt to promote a culture of silence at the school.
But management has said the move was to improve the enrollment of more women in the school.
The alumni even petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo, asking him to intervene in what they described as the dilution of their hall traditions.
Source: Citinewsroom